“Attention, everypony! It seems that we’ve reached our final piece of the storage lot. Now, I’m embarrassed to admit this, but quite frankly, I have no idea what this thing is. In fact, I’m not even sure what it was doing in the lot to begin with. However, do not let this heed you in your bidding! Remember, all the proceeds from this auction are going straight to Celestia’s Home for Orphaned Foals and Fillies, so bid as high as you can. Now, shall we start the bidding at a hundred bits? Do I hear a hundred?” the auctioneer asked the crowd of seated ponies in front of him. Next to the dais on which he stood was a frame, in which was the item in question.

As the ponies muttered among themselves, a sole purple hoof stuck out above them all.

“A hundred bits, perfect. Anypony for a hundred and fifty? An-” the auctioneer was cut off by the pony who had raised her hoof to begin with.

“Oh, no, I’m not bidding on the item,” she said, getting up off her seat. As she did so, it was revealed that she was none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. The collective gasp was quiet, but echoed throughout the crowd.

“Then why… did you raise your hoof?” the auctioneer asked, clearly confused.

Twilight walked up to the frame, and took a close look at the item. “I wished to get a closer look at this fascinating piece of art!”

“You of all ponies?” he asked, now even more confused than before. He had figured that Rarity, who had recently been sent home due to spending a bit too many, would have been quite interested in the piece, but not Twilight!

“Yes! I think this is an excellent retelling of the fall of the griffon king Guto at the claws of Arimaspi, don’t you?” Twilight asked, taking a step back from the item, to look at it in all it’s glory.

“It… is?” the auctioneer asked, taking another look at the piece in question. “I don’t s-”

The poor auctioneer was interrupted again, this time by an unknown female voice. “No it isn’t!”

A griffon walked up the frame, and looked at it herself. “This is clearly a picture of the fall of King Sombra,” she said, in the same voice which had interrupted the auctioneer. “I don’t see Guto at all.”

“Are you serious?” Twilight asked, examining the item once again. “How could you possibly see this as King Sombra?”

“Well, princess, if you take a look right over there,” the griffon said, pointing a talon at a dark blotch on the item, “That is clearly meant to represent King Sombra. And if you look over here,” she said, pointing at two smaller blotches, one whitish, the other kind of a dark blue, “These must represent the two princesses,” the griffon finished, a smug grin on her face.

“How intriguing!” Twilight responded, taking a closer look at the splotches pointed out by the griffon.

“Yes, yes, that’s all very interesting,” said the auctioneer, “but are either of you going to actually bid on this?”

“Oh, no, I wasn’t planning on,” they both said in unision.

The auctioneer sighed as he started to wonder if anypony was going to actually bid on whatever this thing was. It had been a long day, and he just wanted this last piece bid on already. “Is there anypony here who actually wants to bid on this item?” he asked the crowd. A crystalline hoof was raised in response. “Thank Celestia,” he muttered under his breath, before asking, “Okay, so we’re starting the bidding at hundred bits, yes?”

“No,” said the crystal pony, as he got up off of his seat, and walked towards the frame. “I’m here to correct these foalish ponies on their misconceptions on what is a very easy piece of artwork to understand. I’m disappointed in you, princess,” he said, briefly looking at Twilight. “I would have expected you to have recognized this art style. True, it’s hard to see it rendered in fibers instead of crystal, but this is clearly a fractal picture of the creation of the Changelings. I happen to be an expert on this subject,” he finished, pushing up the glasses he was wearing.

“Well, I’ll be,” both the princess and the griffon muttered as they took another look at the item. “Now that you mention it, I can see that,” said Twilight.

“And so can I,” said the griffon, as she looked even closer at the item.

“Wonderful, now we know what this thing… is,” said the auctioneer. “So, is there anypony here who actually wants to bid on this?” he asked, looking at the all the other ponies.

“Yes,” said a pony, as he got up from his seat. The auctioneer held his breath, but didn’t expect much. Suddenly, there was a flash of green fire, and a collective gasp from everypony else. Standing where the pony had been was a changeling.

“A changeling at an auction? Never thought I’d see the day,” the auctioneer said, looking at the changeling. “Now, shall we start the bidding at a hundred bits?” he asked.

“Bits?” asked the changeling. “The only currency I can pay you in is love.”

The auctioneer blinked, then sighed and pointed at a sign. “As the sign clearly says, the only currency we accept are bits. You can’t pay in love,” he explained.
“But my queen taught me that all you need is love,” replied the changeling.

“Well, I’m sorry to say, but orphaned foals and fillies can’t just live off of love alone,” replied the auctioneer.

“Oh, I see,” said the changeling, blinking in surprise. “I suppose I’ll leave now,” he said, dejectedly. He quickly disguised himself again, and walked out of the auction house, head hung low.

“Well, I suppose I’ll ask again. Is there anypony here who has an interest in this piece, and can pay for it?” the auctioneer asked. “Anypony at all?”

Yet another hoof was raised. “I believe I can afford this,” he said. “Let’s start the bidding at a two hundred bits.”

“Oh thank Celestia,” the auctioneer said under his breath. “Okay everyone, we’ve started the bidding at two hundred bits. Do I hear two fifty?” he called out.

“Two hundred and fifty!” called out another voice.

“Three hundred!” called out a third voice.

The ponies in the room were finally starting to get interested in the item. Apparently all it took was a changeling trying to buy it. “Five hundred bits!” called out yet another voice.

The auctioneer looked at the crowd with joy in his heart, hoping that somepony would finally buy this item. “That’s five hundred bits for this picture of the creation of the changelings, everypony! Five hundred bits. Do I hear six hundred bits?” he asked.

“That picture has nothing to do with changelings!” called out a different voice.

“It has everything to do with changelings!” responded the crystal pony, sounding angry.

“No it doesn’t!” the voice responded, angry as well.

“Yes it does!” replied the crystal pony, even angrier this time.

“No it doesn’t!” the voice once again responded.

“Right, that’s it,” growled the crystal pony. “I’m coming down there,” he said, jumping down into the crowd.

“Oh, very frightening. What are you going to do, shine on me?” A pony got up, revealing herself to be the owner of the voice taunting the crystal pony.

“I’ll do more than just shine on you!” the crystal pony snapped as he ran at her.

Their fight quickly escalated as hooves flew. Soon, everypony was fighting everypony else, except for the auctioneer, who was safe in the dias and Twilight, who yelled, “Will you please all stop?! Are you forgetting the very purpose of this auction?”

“Yes, I did arrange this auction for a very special purpose,” said a voice unexpected by everypony there. For walking in through the door was none other than Princess Celestia herself. The crowd instantly stopped, some in mid punch or kick, others still on the floor.

“Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?” asked Twilight.

“Well, I wanted to see how the auction was going. And if my memory is correct, that’s the very last item in the lot, yes?” Celestia asked, as she made her way over to the frame.

“Yes! We reached five hundred bits before… well, you saw,” said Twilight, sheepishly. “But we’re still not sure what it is, exactly. Maybe you know?”

Celestia was quiet as she looked very closely at the item in question, trying to determine just what exactly it was. Several minutes passed, but still she said nothing. She took a few steps back and looked at the entire thing, before stepping back in closer to reexamine it.

Finally, Twilight walked up to her, and waved a hoof in front of her. “Princess Celestia?”

Celestia looked at Twilight, and shrugged. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I have no idea what this thing is supposed to be. I don’t know if it’s a portrait, a picture, a landscape, if it’s anything at all!” she said, exasperated.

A collective groan travelled through the crowd as they heard Celestia’s words. “Well, I should be getting back. Carry on, everypony!” Celestia said as she walked back out of the auction house.

The crystal pony looked at the mare who he had been fighting and said, “So does that mean that I can…?”

“No,” she said.

The auctioneer sighed, and said, “Okay, so the last number we hit was five hundred bits. Do I hear a six hundred?”

“Six hundred!” a voice yelled out.

“Seven hundred bits!” yelled out a griffon this time, to the surprise of everypony else. “What? If you all are willing to pay so much for it, I bet the griffons back home would pay even more!” he explained, greed apparent in his eyes.

The auctioneer sighed at the idea of the griffon’s plan. “That’s seven hundred bits. Do I hear eight hundred?” he asked. A few moments passed. “Going once, going tw-”

“One thousand bits!” called out a female voice.

The ponies were, once more, collectively shocked by such a high bid. Even the auctioneer was taken back at such a bid, even if he was fast approaching one thousand himself. “O- o- one thousand bits?!” he asked, shocked.

“Yes. My client is very serious about his art, and was dead set on piece six hundred nineteen, which I am told is the item number of this particular piece, correct?” she asked, standing up and walking towards the frame.

The auctioneer sighed, and said, “I’m sorry to tell you this, madam, but this auction only goes up to six hundred and eighteen.”

An audible silence.

“I… see. My client is also known for his practical jokes. I have apparently fallen victim to one of them. I apologize for wasting your time. Goodbye,” she said, turning around and starting to leave.

“Wait!” Twilight called out after her.

“What do you want?” the mare asked, turning to look around at Twilight. “My time is not to be spent lightly, even if you are a princess.”

“Well, I just wanted to ask you what the name of your client was,” answered Twilight.

“I am not at liberty to tell you that, not that I know it myself. However, he signs all his letters with the letter Q if that helps,” replied the mare, as she turned around and headed out the exit.

Twilight facehooved, knowing exactly who it was. “I’ll have to talk with him when I get back,” muttered Twilight as she took her seat again.

The auctioneer, as exhausted as he was, looked back out over the group of ponies and sighed. “So, let me ask this once again. Shall we continue the bidding?” he asked, just wanting to get this over with and go home.

“No man, I don’t think we shall,” said a hitherto silent stallion.

“Why ever not? We were doing perfectly fine back when we hit a thousand bits,” said the auctioneer, confused at the stallion’s words.

“Well, you see man, I’ve been looking at that rug the entire time this auction has been going on, man, trying to figure out where I had last seen it,” replied the stallion.

“Rug?!” the auctioneer was shocked. “This… thing, is a rug?!” he asked, clearly not believing his ears.

“Yeah man, that’s a rug. In fact, man,” started the stallion, as he walked over to the frame. He looked at the rug, and tore it out of the frame with his mouth, then tossed it over his back. “Man, this is my rug! I don’t even know what this is doing here.”

The auctioneer was stunned into silence. He just couldn’t believe that. “Sir, what’s your name?” he asked, wanting to know just who this stallion was. He couldn't stop him, even if he wanted to. There was a very small sign out front that the owners of an item could reclaim said item if they didn't know how it got there. The princess was very strict on that role.

“Well, my name is Letrotski, but you can call me The Stallion. That’s what everyone else calls now. Now, if you don’t mind, man, I’m taking my rug back with me,” The Stallion replied, as he walked out of the auction house, rug flapping behind him.